
'^r?', 




Glass. 
Book. 



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KANSAS~THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION. 

POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY, THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL. 



SPEECH 

OF 

HON. JNO. COVODE, OF PENNSYLYANIA. 



Delivered in the House of Representative! 



Mr. Cbairman, the doctrine of "popular soyer- 
eignty," or the righ t of ihe people of a Territory to 
m ke' their own laws, without let or hindrance on 
the part of Congress, or iatcference from any quar- 
ter, had its origin in the political necessities of a 
presidential aspirant, and was first announced in the 
famous " Nicholson letter." That letter made its 
appearance in 1S48, just prior to the meeiing of the 
Baltimore convention, and its author, General Cass, 
received the nomination of that bod_y lor the Presi- 
dency. It was regarded as a happy thought at the 
time, inasmuch as it relieved the part}^ on the one 
hand of the Wilmot proviso, and on the other of the 
southern demand made by a few uitraists, with Mr. 
Calhoun at their head, of the right of the slave- 
holders to ca ry their slave property into all the 
Territories of the Union. But the South was far 
i'r. m b^iing pleased with the "compromise," and 
signalized its displeasure by failing to elect its auih- 
or to the Presidency. From that time forward, 
the Democratic party has nominally clung to the 
doctrine of popular sovereignty, it has been more 
and more the fashion to construe it in the manner 
least objectionable to the South; until at length it 
has been brought into harmony with the constitu- 
tional theories of the great Carolinian. 

The doctrine as enunciated by its author plainly 
meant that the people of a Territory may, as such, 
admit or exclude slavery by their territorial laws, 
prior to the toimation of a State cousiitution. It 
IS due to General Cass to say that he has always con- 
tendtd for this construction in language as explicit 
[is he ever employs upon any occasion. But the 
party, finding this interpre'ation almost as distaste- 
ful to the slaveholding interest as the Wilmot pro- 
viso itself, has gradually receded from it, until, as 
I have stated, the opposite theory, in all its latitude, 
has been adopted and annaunced by the President. 
Mr. Buchanan, in his letter to Professor Silliman, 
says : 

" Slavery existed at that period, [meaniug when 
' the Nebraska bill was passed,] and still exists in 
' Kansas, under the Constitution of the United 
'States. 

In his recent message, dated February 2, in which 
he Cv>nmunicated the Jjccompton constitution to this 
House, he goes still further, saying: 

"It has been solemnly adjudged by the highest 
'judicial tribunal known to our laws, that slavery 
'exists in Kansas by virtue if the Constitution of 
' the United States. Kansas is, therefore, at this 
' moment, as much a slave Slate as Georgia or South 
' Carolina." 




In 1854, when the f?^ 
mise was undrr considerate 
ultra southern ground. They declared in the body 
of the Kansas-Nebraska bill ihat it is 

" The true intent and meaning of this act not to 
'legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor 
'to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people 
' thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their 
' domestic institutions in their own way, subject only 
'to the Constitution of^e United States." 

We all remember tlftit this clause was inserted in 
consequence of the disputes in regard to this doc- 
trine of popular sovereignty. General'Cass and his 
northern friends contended" that slavery is a local in- 
stitution, and that it exists nowhere except under the 
sanction of posiiivcT^w ; while the southern uitraists 
contend ihat slavery exists as a matter of right in all 
the Territories. In 1854, the Democratic party de- 
termined not to be embarrassed by this question, 
and accordmgly inserted the above declaratory 
clause in the Kansas-Nebraska bill. 

It will be seen that the Democracy has been 
steadily gravitating southwardly for nine or ten 
years past, until it at length stands squarely upon 
the South Carolina platform. 

In 1J<47, the northern wing of the party voted for 
the Wilmot proviso. In 1«48, they wheeled about 
and denied ihe right of Cong-ess to abolish slavery 
in the Territories ; but declared it to be the inalien- 
able right of the people inhabiting them to admit or 
exclude slavery at their pleasure, either by their 
Territorial Leg-islatures, or in the formation of their 
State constitutions. In 1850 to 1854, this right was 
fiercely contested by the South, and the party was 
induced to take a neutral, or doubtful, position; in 
1855-6-7, the repugnance of the slave interest to 
" squatter sov> reignty" grew intense, and the party 
yielded still further; in J858, they throw off all dis- 
guise, and openly avow that the Constitution carries 
slavery into all the Territories of the Union, and that 
no man can be a Democrat who denies this proposi- 
tion. 

I can conceive of but two further steps in this down- 
ward progress. The first of these is, to declare in 
favor of reopening the African slave trade; and the 
second is, to get up another Dred Scott decision in 
f ivor of the right to cany slavery into the free States. 
We know that the revival of the slave trade is 
earnestly demanded by th" more active spirits of the 
South. The Govern ir of South Carolina had recom- 
mended it to the attention of the Legislature; and in 
Louisiana the Legislature, or at least one branch of it^ 
the other, however, has rejected it by two votes — has , 



rT) 



■within a few weeks past, passed an evasive act for the 
revival of the tratHc in slaves, under the name of ap- 
prentices, or hired laborers. Indeed, it is stated in the 
newspapers that the trade has t>eeii actually revived, 
on the coast of Mi sissi] pi, iu defi iice of the United 
States liws, which brand it as piracy. I have little 
doubt that the trade might be SLicce-ssliilly carriid on 
without the formality of a repeal of the laws pr.i- 
hibitinjr it, for we all know tho alacrity of the Piesi- 
deut in efl'orts to conciliate the South. In Kansas we 
have seen him trample on law and justice ; violate his 
pledges, and give countenance to the most iijfimous 
irauds, by turning out of office Governors and S creta- 
ries who would notconnive at them. How preposter- 
ous, then, the idea that the President would higgle at 
the allowance of the slave trade, or put himself to in- 
convenience in the enforcment of an unpopular statute 
of fifty years' standing! The ^lave trade may there- 
fore be regarded as practically re-established; but 
there is Treason to believe tliat rhe South will demand 
its legal recognition, and the exjTerience of the last 
few y^ars Woulji lead 'to the expectation thtit the 
Democratic parti \\\\\ adi pt the ArVican slave tnule- 
as ^ piffpk in "it^iatfonu. ,Tn,e*next national con- 
vention of the party is M> meet.at Ci'aileslon, South 
CaroliB'a.in 18S0, for the pui'pose of nominating a 
candidate ffir the FrcbidPncy, and the time and place 
will be eminently fitting lor the insertion of the 
ebony plank. 

The doctrine that the Constitution carros slavery 
into the free States has also found favor with tlie 
leading members of the party.' There are those who 
insist that the Dred Scott decision covers this ground ; 
and aii:ong this number is^he ' ffic al org.iu of the 
Government, the Washington Un-on. That p.ipirr, 
on the ]7thof NoviMiibtr iasufdistinctly a>Strted the 
right of the slavehoMers to carry their slaves into 
the free States, and to remain with them as long as 
they think proper, any law of tho.^e States to the 
contrary notwithstanding. The >outh will ere long 
insist upon this right, and we gray expect to see the 
Democratic party adopt it into its creed. 

I have said that the JJemocracy have but two more 
steps to take in their downward career; but there is 
Still another demand wh ch the South will hold in 
reserve: the right to reduce the poor whites of the 
country, and the laboring classes generally, includ- 
ing mechanics, to s:avery. 'this proposition has 
been boldly advanced in the South. Leading editors, 
politicians, and preachers have espoused it; and the 
other d«y it was proclaimed in the Senate; Chamber. 
The time may come when they may aiteii pt to re- 
duce it to practice. Why should they hesitate? They 
pronounce free societies a failure— an uiibuccessiul 
experiment made in western Europe and norhe^n 
America in comparatively modern times -wh le the 
whole experience and practice of mankind, f. oni the 
earliest ages, attest the utility and neces.>-ity of sla- 
very. It has become a cardinal doguia with the 
leaders of southern opinion, that slavery is the nat- 
ural and proper condition of the laboring classes, 
without reference to the color of the skin or nature 
of their employment. The nor. hern Democracy aie 
now the faithful allies of this white-slavery party of 
the South, and stand read}' to assist them in CiTiy- 
ing out every practical measure. I c.tn conceive that 
the leaders of the parly in the free S.ales will be 
greatly embarrassed by this question, when they 
shall be called upon to make an explicit avow 1 of 
the doctrine ; but it must bj rememb.red that i. um- 
bers of them have already indirectly taken ground 
in favor of white slavery ; for whoever quotes the 
Bible in favor of slavery, is the advocate of white 
slavery. The slavery instituted and regulated by 
the Mosaic laws was white slavery; the nations sur- 
rounding the land of Canaan, whom the Israe iies 
were authorized to enslave, were white men, Cauca- 
sians ; and, in a later age, the servants whom Paul 
commanded to obey their masters were white ser- 



vants. Whoever, therefore, resorts to the Bible for 
arguments in support of slavery, stands committed 
in favor of the right to enslave his white fellow- 
citizens. 

In tracing the downward career of the Democracy 
in the pursuit or "jiopular s ve eigntv," it is but 
just that 1 should admit, as 1 do with pleasure, that 
a considerable wing of the [larty has at length awak- 
ened to a consciousness of the ''base uses" to which 
their energies have been applied. They begin to 
see, at the eleventh hour, that they have done worse 
than stand uU the day idle. The nonest Democracy 
of the iNorth really supposed that the propagandists 
of slavery were in earnest when they avowed them- 
selves ready to "leave the people perfectly free to 
form their institutions in their own way." But the 
history of the struggle in Kansas has at length 
opened their eyes, it ought to have had that etftct 
sooner, and would h-.ve Uone so but for the infatua- 
tion of prejudice and the pride of partisanship. 

Sir, [ will not latij;ue the committee by going into 
a minute recital of the events of the Kansas history. 
A brief reference to them will be sufficient fur my 
purpose. 

The first territorial election totk place in March, 
18ii5. Wo all know how it was conducted. About 
five thousand men, in uulilaiy array, marched over 
the line from the State ot iMissouri, " with dri;nis 
beating and banners flying," dispersvd tliemselves 
through the several counties or eleeton disiricts ; 
drove the peaceable iiihabiianis Irom the pulls, and 
cast an overwhelming vole fer men of tlie;roun par- 
ty — many of thciii, like their Ciustiiuents, citizens 
of Missouri. In a few ii.stanci s protests were made 
by actual residents against these vioUnt proceed- 
ings, and the Governor, Heeder, r. jecied the returns, 
and gave the ceriiticates of election to free-Siato men. 
But, in most cases, the leign ot terrwr established by 
the rutfian invaders was si complete that no one 
dared to make a proiest ; and, as a con^e(|uence — 
•though not a legitimate conse (Uence — the nillian in- 
truders secured a large m.ijority of the Legislature. 

The " Legislature" thus thrust upon the people of 
Kans s by violence and fraud, assembled in July. 
'I'hey adopted, atone fell swoop, the whole body of 
laws of the btate of ilissouri, contauied in a large 
volume of Several bundled pages, with such indecent 
haste, and with so little regara to what the book con- 
tained, that they neglecied to erase " St ite of Mis- 
souri," vvlure it oceuri'ed in the titles of the several 
acts, and insert "Terriiory of Kansas" in its place. 
The consequence was, that they were compelled to 
the ridiculous expedient of passing a tupplemeniary 
act declaring that where the erai "State of Mis- 
souri" occurs, "Territory of Kansas" must be under- 
stood. Among the laws pasised by this model Le- 
gislature, were the following. I am not aware 
whether they were partly borrowed from the State 
of Missouri, or wiiether they or.giuaied entirely wiih 
tue ruffian Legislature. Tliey appear, however, to 
be, at least in part, original : 

"Sec. 11. If any person print, write, introduce 
' into, publish, or creulate, or cause to be i ronght 
'into, printed, written, published, or circulated, or 
' shall knowingly aid or assist in bringing in o, 
'printing, publishing, or circulating, unhin th:S 
' Territory, any b lok, paper, pam hlet, magazine, 
' handbill, or circular, containing any siatemeuis, ar- 
'guments, opinions, sentiments, doctrines, advice, 
' or innuendo, calculated to promote a disorderly, dan- 
' gerousor rebellious dijatlection among ihe slaves in 
' this Territory, or to induce such slaves to escape 
from the service of their masters or to resist their 
' authority, he shall be gudty of a lelonv, and be 
' punithed by imprisoiimeutand hard labor for a teim 
' not less than five years. 

"Sec. \'i. If any free persoji by speaking or by 
' writing, assert or maintain that persons have not 
' the right to hold slaves in this Territory, or shall 



introduce into this Territoiy, print, publish, write, 
civculale, or cause to bo introduced into this Tcrrv 
;oty, writtfn, printed, publi&hed, or circula'ed in 
this Territory, any book, pajjer, m.ia:az'ne, panip]ilet, 
jr cinulrir, coniain iig : ny denial of thi.^ right of 
persons to hold slaves in this Territory, such person 
shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and punished by 
imprisonment at hard labur for a tsrm of not less 
than two years." 

And further providing, thut no person "cmiscipn- 
ously opposed to holding slaves" shall sit as a juror 
1 the" trial i.if any cause fciunded on a breach of the 
ir going law. The}' furth-'r provided, ttiat all of- 
cers and att rneys t-hould be sworn not only to sup- 
ort the Constituiion of the United States, but also 
I support and sustain the organic law of the Terri- 
iry, and the fugitive s'ave laws ; and thai any per- 
)n ofifermg to vote shall be presumed to be entitled 
I vole uni 1 the contrary is shown ; and if any one, 
hen required, shall refuse to take an oath to sustain 
le fugitive slave laws, he shall not be permitted to 
ate. 

They removed all obstacles to voting at future 
eciions on the \r.ir' of non-residents, b)' providing 
lat whoe^'er should p ly a poll-tax and claim resi- 
iuce for tiie time b"ing, should be a qualified elec- 
>r. No length of time was made a necessary part 
r the qualiticat on, aud the consequence was, that 
iiy MifSourian who could ; fford the expense of a 
de across the line, and the payment of a small 
oil-tax, was legally qualified to make laws and in- 
;itutions for Kansas It was known that the citi- 
ius of the free Siates could not avail themselves of 
le privilege, in consfquence of the great distance 
Uervening. No one would dream of traveling five 
) fifteen hundred miles for the purpose of casting a 
ote. Even Iowa could afford no aid to the free- 
tate cause, under this convenient electoral law, 
nee the western portion of it is, or was at th^t time, 
hiiost un nhabited. 

Such Wfis the " perfect freedom," and " popular 
jvereignty" enjoyed by the people of Kansas at 
leir first election. 

Their second election, in ISofi, took place under 
le " laws" passed by this Legislature, which make 
. a felony to discuss tiie very questions at i sue be- 
iveen the parties ; and dislranchise all wi)o wou d 
ot take an oath to support laws which they hekl iu 
bhorrence. It is the height of tyranny to compel a 
lan to swear to support a particular statute as a 
audition upon which he is to exercise the elective 
•anchiso. Have citizens no right to doubtand doi y 
le constitutionality of 1 iws ? And must American 
reemen stultify themselves, or be d sfrauchised ? 
'he idea is abhorre it to evrry man who is not a ty- 
ant or a slave at heart. Tt is "the es-^etice of tyranny. 

What would South <^aroIina think of such a test- 
atn in regard to a protective tariff. - She once de- 
lared such a tariff unconstitutional and void. Sup- 
ose the Co gross of that day. a,t the recommenda- 
on of General Jackson, had pa<sed a test-oath, and 
ecliiring that no man who refused to support, the 
irifF act should be allowed to vote, what would 
outU Carolina have stidti it? I ask her Reprc- 
autatives here now, what they would have thought 
f such a lest oath ? I know what that answer must 
e ; no» one of them but will feel his blood mantle 
1 his cheek with indignation at the thought. Then 
ow can they counteiian e for one moment, directl 
r indirectly, this infamous test-oath iu Kansas ? 
beircandor will not permit thera to deny that the 
ases are perfectly parallel. It is as leg ti mate to re- 
uire a test-oath lor one law^ of Congress as for 
nother. 

But, Mr. Chairman, is it not too plain to need illus- 
ration, that whoes-er upholds the validity of the ter- 
itoiial election of ISo'i, g'ves his sanction to the test- 
'iiihs under which it was held ? No caudid man can 



deny the proposition. Those test-oaths are known to 
have kept thousands of conscientious voters from 
the iiolls. The fret -.State parly resolved, in conse- 
quence of them, to absian from voting; and tlie re- 
sult was that the electi'iii went in favor of thepio- 
slavery partv. They had no occasion to import 
voters. Their test-oaths were ali-sulRcient to secure 
them a monopoly of the elective franchise and an 
easy triumph 

The Legislalure, therefore, which called the Le- 
com')ton convention into being, was elected under 
these infa nous test-oaihs, and owes its pro-slavery 
character to them. Without ihe test-oaths the re- 
sult might have been, and probably would have 
been eniirelv difi'crent. Yet, sir, we hear South 
Carolinians foremost in defence of the legitimacy of 
an election conductcd.on such principles. Sir, they 
should not torg;-t that "a revolution of the wh'^el of 
fortune, an exchange of situations, is among possible 
events," and the day may come when the " poisoned 
chalice" may be presented to the'r lips. A tesi-oath 
is a happy exped cut of the central power to get rid 
of refractory majorities in the States, and gveits? 
own meager handful of friends the control. Sir. I 
am vcrv far from thrc-tening such retaliation ; I love 
liberty not merely for myself and part}', but for ;.ll 
men. But I warn the Stuith, and pariicularly Souili 
Carolina, agiinst t.hfl danger of putting th s tre- 
men-'ous weapon of despotism in the hands <f the 
Federal govevnment. They should fear and trombU 
when they reflect upon their participation in these 
centralizing measure!^. 

Test-oaths originated in a barbarous age. They 
were invented by religious in tolerance and fanaticisci, 
and furnished a convenient method for disfranchisirg 
and crushing minorities. England is now about to 
effare the ld^t vestige of them from hei- statutt- 
b loks, by r. pealing the laws which exclude the Jews 
from from the rights and privileges of Briti:--h sub- 
jeds. The people of London have, several times, 
within the last ten years, sent a Jew to I^arliament, 
merely as a protest against the intolerant test-oaths. 
The itouse of Commons has more than once, indeed I 
believe, every time, signalized its willingness to repeal 
the test act, aud admit the Baron Rothschild lo his 
seat, but the House of Lords has shown its charac- 
te'-istic rep gnance to reform by opposing the re- 
peal. Every vear, however, their o) position grows 
weaker, and if they have not already yielded, it is 
confidently expected t ey will do so at no distant 
day. Sir, the House of Lords is a hereditarj' body, 
and clings with tenacity to whatever is arbitrary and 
illiberal; but it dire not resist the persistent de- 
mands of the British pe'ple for reform. It has al- 
ways yielded — generally at the eleventh hour and 
with bad grace— to the stern voice of the people, 
spoken through the Commcms. 

Ami, sir, shall republican America, in the latter 
half of the nineteenth century, transplant th's relic 
of barbar sm and into'eranc^ to the New World, 
iifter it has been discardf-d by monarchical England? 
Sir, s'avery is i self a relic "f barbarism. It has no 
element of freedom or justice in it; but its friends 
pretend that it only affects t'.-.e rights of black men ; 
that white men are all the more free for holding black 
men in slavery. There never was a grosser fallacy. 
There can be no freedom where slavery is, for master 
or slave; for whitij men or black. It is itself the 
essence of injustice, and can tuily be maintained by 
illiberal and mfolrant laws. It will not bear scru- 
tiii}', flnd theref re it becomes necessary to pass laws, 
such as I have quoted from the code of Kansas, and 
such as are to b;- found in the codi's of all the slave 
States, forbidding, under heavy pains and penalties, 
any demal of the right to hold slaves. It must have 
test oaths, in order to disfranchise every man who 
.dares to question, even in his heart of hearts, the 
justice of thc5 system. In a word, slavery demands 
the same despotic regulations for its support which 



Louis Napoleon and the Czar of Russia find neces- 
sary to the maintenance of their tyranny. 

The Lecompton convention was called into ex- 
istence hy this test-oath Legislature. Its purents 
were ruffianism and fraud. It was literally con- 
ceivrd in sin and brought forth in iniquity. " What 
could we expect of such a convention but an off- 
spring like itself, a foul and deformed monster, ab- 
horred and hated of honest men? 

It is true that the test onths were repealed by the 
Legislature which called the convention into exist- 
enf-e; b'lt other precautions were taken to stifle the 
voice ol' the majority, and secure an easy victory to 
the pro-slavery party, even if the people had thought 
proper to vote. 

In the first place, the Legislature authorized a 
census to be taken, and a registry of voters, which 
was V ery imperfectly performed in any part of tbc 
Territory, so far as the free S'ate parly were con- 
cerned ; while the greatest care was taken to legis- 
ter irvery pro-slavery man who had ever paid a 
casual visit to the Territory, or employed a proxy to 
stake out a "claim." In addition to this, about half 
thi3 counties, containing an almost unanimous anti- 
slavt ry population, were entirely neglected by the 
census-takers, and were denied any shadow of r p- 
resenlation in the convention. A second and still 
stronger guarantee of success was the fact that the 
appu.niment of judges of the election was made by 
the Lrnislature from the most reckless and unscru- 
pulous tools of the slavery faction, and the poll- 
books made reUirnable, not' to- the Governor, but to 
the Sp-.ikers of the two Houses, in whom the people 
had not, the slightest confidence. Under t^uch cir- 
cumstances it would have been the excess of folly 
on the fart of the fn-e-St'ite men to participate in 
the election. But lastly, and above all. the people of 
Kansiis regarded the Legislature which calkd the 
convf t,lou into beii'g as a foul usurpation, which 
tluy would not have tolerated in their midst but fir 
the siioport it received from the central despotism 
here at Washington. 

Till' lastiict of the Territorial Legislature took place 
inOciober. Weareallflimiliar with its histor>. The 
free-Staie party had now become too strong to be 
overawed by rufBaii invaders from Missouri; and, as 
a c insequence, the slavery des^jeradoes were com- 
pelled to resort to new tactics. In the first elect'on, 
of March, 1855, their reliance was upon force. They 
scarcely condescended, at that stage of the struggle, 
to perpetrate frauds, except such as were as bold and 
barefaced as the violence which accompanied them. 
In ISoii, their relative strength was considerably im- 
paired, and firce and fraud were united; while in 
1857 their weakness was so conspicuous, that they 
abandoned force, except in a few localities, and relied 
almost exclusively upon the most despicable fraud 
and perjury. The ruffians have been coni])letely 
transfirmed into knaves; and the people, who have 
grown too strong to be kept down by force, are to be 
cheated of their rights by the forgery of t lection re- 
turns, and the perjury of officials. 

We all recollect how the consummation of this 
crime was prevented by the integrity of Governor 
Walker and Secretary 8lanton, in the rejection of the 
Oxford and McGee county frauds ; and we all know 
the reward they received at the hands of President 
Buchanan. For doing whit any Inmest man would 
have done, Governor Walker was denounced by the 
pro-slavery press of the country in the moHuuraea^- 
'.ured terms, and was censured and frowned upon by 
'the Administration, until self-respect compelled him 
to resign. Secretary Stanton, partly for his own par- 
ticipation with Walker in the rejection of the Oxf rd 
frauds, and partly for calling an extra session of the 
free-Stale Legislature, has been unceremoniously dis- 
missed. 

Two more elections remain to be noticed. I allude 
to those of the 21st December and the 4th of Janu- 



ary. The first of these elections Avas called by the 
Lecompton conspirators in order to gloss over their 
treasonable work by tricking the people into its adop- 
tion. Instead of submitting the whole constitution 
to the popular vote, which would Ivtve been the most 
easy and natural, as well as the only fair and legiti- 
mate jiroceeding, they submitted a single clause for 
the people's ratification or rejection, on condition of 
their voting for all the other clauses. Can any good 
reason be offered for this discriminatioi? Have not 
the people the same right to vote f t or against the 
whole constitution that they have to vote upon a part 
of it? Sir, the members of the convention bad the 
frankness to tell why they declined to submit the 
whole constitution. They acknowledged that they 
withheld it because they were aware that ihe people 
would vote it down ; and incredible as the fact may 
seem, the official organ of Mr. Buchanan— the Wash- 
ington Uniini— had the coolness to justify them on 
that ground! Sir, call you this Democracy? No, 
sir; no. sir; it is the essence of whatever is mean, 
odious, and tyrannical. Every honest man will detest 
the vile hypocrisy which attempts to cloak its despotic 
purposes under such disgu'ses. 

The terms of this pretended submission of the sla- 
very clause to the popular ratification required that 
all who voted at all, whether for ( r against the sla- 
very clause, must vote for the constitution. Tbey 
must vote "'for the constitution with s avery," or 
" for the constitutii n without slavery." Is it not 
clear that the objeet of the convention was to extort 
an endorsement of the constitution from those who 
were opposed to it, or compel them to refrain from 
voting? This dishonoruble expedient originated in 
the same spirit with that which originated the test 
oaths — a desire to disfranchise all who were opposed 
to slavery and to the rule of the usurpers. iS'o con- 
scie.itious opponent of the constitution co'ild vote at 
all ; and the result was that the border ruffians and 
Federal stipendiaries had everything their own way. 

But, sir, the question of the existence of slavery 
was really never submitted to the vote of the i)eople 
at all. The pretended submission only amounted to 
this: shall Kansas exclude the further introduction 
of slaves ? A separate clause ofthe cot:stitution guar- 
anties a perpetual right of slaveholders in the slaves 
already in the Territory, whatever might be the result 
of the vote upon the clause submitted for their rati- 
fication ; and the vain attempt is made to bind future 
gi^nerations for all time to the maintenance of slavery. 
The people are permitted to alter their constitution 
after the year 1864, provided that the clause sccuiing 
a perpetual r'ght to bold slaves is never to be touched. 
Such, sir, is the "popular sovereiguty" which Wr. 
Buchanan wishes secured to the people of KansasI 
They may exclude the introduction of more slaves, 
pr-'vided they will vole for the perpetuation of the 
slavery already in existence, and the perpetual right 
to buy, sell, and breed Irom the stock already on hand ! 
They may even alter the c 'nstitution after the .year 
lSi\i, priii'ided that this sacred right of holding, buy- 
ing, selling, and breeding from those in the Terri- 
tory at the time of its admission into the Union, is 
never to be intei-fered with ! Sir, I should have held 
the Lecompton convention and th« Administration 
in more respect if they had adhered to their first res- 
olution, which was, n"t to submit the constituiion, or 
any ])art of it, to llie popular vote. Tyranny awakens 
our abhorrence, but fraud and jugglery excite con- 
tempt. 

The convention ordered another election to take 
place on the 4th of January, under this Lecompton 
constituiion, for State oihceVs, State Legislature, and 
a men, ber of Congress; and in the mean time the 
newly elected free-State Legislature met in a Cjlled 
session, which proceeded to order an election to take 
phvce siso on the 4th of JauHary, upon the question 
of ratifying or rejecting the constitution. We have 
heard the result of this election. More than ten 



ifiousand freemen of Kansas c^'st tbeir votes against 
tlie constiiuliou in all its parts; while on the 21st 
December only six thousand voted f<.r the constitu- 
tion with slavei'v; and of these it hus been ascer- 
tained that full)' half were fraudulent. We have, tliere- 
fore, ten thousand against the constitution, and ihree 
thousand fir it; and ytt, in the face of these indis- 
putable facts, the administration of Mr. Buchanan, 
backed by what is called the Democratic party, are 
endeavorina: to force Kansas into the Union under 
the Lecompton constitution. !Sir, the history of the 
worst ap;es of the world will furnish no more glaring 
invasion of the rights of a free people. The j)arti- 
lion of Poland and the subjugation of fTiingary by 
the despots of Russia and Germany, were not more 
flagrant acts of tyranny. 

As to the election, on the 4th of January, for State 
officers, State Legislature, and member to Congress, 
we are not permitted 1o know the result to this day, 
jn any reliable auihority. The president of the con- 
s^enion, who is, at the same time, surveyor general 
3f Kansas — a Federal oflicial, who holds his place at 
;he pleasure of the Administration — was authorized 
bv the convention to receive and count the votes, and 
declare the result. In concert with the Administra- 
;ion, and doubtless by its command, he has held bick 
;he certificates of election in order to be ready for 
jny emergency. If the prospect seems fair that 
Kansas is to be admitted into the Union under the 
Lecompton constitution, without serious opposition, 
jve are given to understand that the pro-slavery party 
:ias triumphed. If, on the other hand, the ftite of 
;he swindle grows doubtful, we hear intimations 
;hrown out, through the organs of the Administra- 
;ion, that the free-Stite candidates are to receive the 
;ertificates. We have recentl_y seen in the news- 
oapers a letter from Calhoun, stating that he has such 
nformation from the Territory as will induce him 
;o give the certificates to a majority of fiee-Stnte 
■nen. But his information is unotficial. He has not 
leurd from Governor Denrer; and the fraud once 
Mnsummattd here, it is not at all improbable thnt i 
he official count might foot up quite ditferently. It 
s to be remarked, also, that this letter, whicfi will 
Dave toe way f;ir a few doubtful northern votes, says 
lot a word, about the State ofScers, and member of 
Hongress. 

Sir, I have no faith in this letter. I will not be- 
ieve that the majority has been given to the free- 
Mcite party, until I hear it on undoubted authority 
rom Kansas. This knavish juggle, this thimble- 
" gging, has been continued too long to impose upon 
he public. 

I regard the Administration as being equally re- 
jponsible with Calhoun for the outrageous violation 
)f all law and precedent, all justice and decency in 
his matter. He is their creature, holding a high and 
valuable ottlce at their hands ; and he would not have 
lared thus to trifle with the rights of Kansas if be 
lad not been encouniged in it by his official supe- 
"iors. The Admisti-ation is determined on securing 
.wo more United States Senators to bolster up their 
ottering despotism, and the whole history of their 
nreer proves that they will scruple at nothing — yes, 
sir, literailv nothing — which may secure success. 

Such, Jlr. Chairman, has been the history of 
' popular sovereignty" under the administraiions of 
Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. They have 
'held the word of promise to the ear, and broken it 
;o the hope." They never intended that the people 
should be "perfectly free" to form their own insti- 
;utions, unless they should include slavery among 
;hem. If the people had been unanimous for slavery, 
here would have been no interference on the part of 
he Federal Government, because there would have 
leen no necessity for it; but as the most uumistaka- 
>'e indications were given that a majority of the 
jerple were opp^'sed to slavery, and if hft to them- 
ielvea would exclude it, ail the power and influence 



of the Federal Government have been employed to 
defeat the popular will, not by a legitimaie use of 
executive influence, but by stimulating rutfianism, 
murder, fraud, and perjury; by the appointment of 
the most notorious murderers and scoundrels to 
office, and by putting arms into their hands with 
wliich to murder and rob the free-State men. 

The Government is the creature of the slave power. 
A Senator, in the other wing of the Capital, has had 
the frankness to admit that the South has ruled the 
country almost from the origin of the government. 
Sir, nothing could be truer; and I with humili^itioa 
confess that th-' southern supremacy has never been 
so complete under a southern President as it has 
been under the last and present Administraiions, 
when northern men have nominally presided at the 
White House. 

The present incumbent of the presidential office is 
reporti:d to have said, many years ago, that, if he 
had a drop of Democratic blood in his vein^ he 
would let it out. I am not aware that the fact%'as 
ever tested by a resort to the Sangrado practice; but 
the history of his life has superseded all necessity for 
surgery. He clung to the old Federal party until it 
broke down, and then unceremoniously marched 
ovf-r to the enemy. From that time forward we have 
seen him trimming between the extremes of Norlh 
and South, until he ascertained that the slave interest 
predominated in the Democratic party. From the 
date of that discovery he at once threw himself into 
the arms of the slavery propagandists ; and to-d ly 
his position is more ultra southern than that of Mr. 
Calhoun was at the day of his death. And the his- 
tory of his Administration, particularly with refer- 
ence to Kansas, has removed every suspicion that he 
has either honest Democratic blood or northern blood 
in his veins. St, he beionsrs to the genus Dough- 
face—a name invented by John Randolph, of Roanoke, 
to characterize the northern champions of slavery ; 
and that term implies the absence of blood of aiiy 
kind. 

The position of the Republican party with refer- 
ence to "popular sovereignty," or the right of the 
people of a Territory to make their own laws is, in 
my view, the only one compatible with the con- 
stitution and with common sense. We hold that 
territorial sovereignty is subordinate to Federal au- 
thority; that it is absurd to suppose that the first 

handful of men — five hundred or five thousand 

who arrive in a Territory like Kansas, of more than 
a hundred thousand square miles, have an exclusive 
right to fix its fundamental laws for all time, with- 
out the consent of Congress. They have no rio-ht 
for instance, to form a State government, and t(rde- 
fine its boundaries, without the consent of Congress. 
Common sense dictates that Congress shouliT first 
pass an enabling act, setting forth the number of 
luhabitants requisite to Ibrm the State, the territorial 
extent of the State, and its boundaries. Can there 
beany question on this point? May five hundred 
ruen erect themselves into a State, wiih an area of 
five hundred thousand square miles? The idea is 
utterly preposterous; but admit the principle of 
territorial sovereignty, and this conclusion follows. 

But while we insist upon the right of Oongre.-s to 
legislate for the Territories, we admit that this right 
may be waived The people of the Territories uTay 
be invested with the privilege of making laws for 
themselvi^s, as Kansas has been; and we insist that 
they shall enjoy the right thus guarantied to them 
bv the organic act, without executive intermeddling. 
We deny their right to come into the Union when- 
ever they think proper, and on any terms, but we 
admit their right to present themselves tor admis- 
sion. The Republican party has been the bulwark 
of practical popular sovereignty in Kansas since the 
organization of the territorial government; and we 
hail with joy the recent demonstrations of a large 
wing of the Democracy in favor of this principle. 



6 



We extend to tbem the right hand of fellowship, and 
sh;ill be happy to c^-operate with thorn in any meas- 
ures for vindicating' the perlbct freedom of the people 
in the formation of their own institutions in their 
own way. 

Sir, if the GrOTernment were placed in the hands 
of honest and fair men, I should have little a|)pre- 
hension of seeing- slavery extended, even without 
a resort to congressional "prohibition There was a 
time when the tendency wasto expand slavery fiister 
than freedom, but that time is past. Atihep riod 
of the organization of the Government ihere were 
twelve States of the Union which tolerated slavery, 
and only one from which it was excluded. In six 
of those Staffs slavery was an interest of prims im- 
portance; and neiirly the whole territory of th» 
Union lay contiguous to them. New England and 
New York had no frontier Territories bordering on 
them- and only Pennsylvania, of all the States then 
coi^'-iratively, now entirely fiee, had a direct outlet 
into the wilderness beyond its west-rn borders. In 
ronsequence of this st4te of things, and cf the pecu- 
liar nature of slavery, we have seen Kt^ntuoky and 
Tennessee spring into existence before Ohio; and 
from that time forward down to 1850, slaverv spread 
more rapidlv and widely than freedom. Since that 
period, the' tables have been turned. Dp to 1850, 
the number of free and slave States was equil. Cali- 
fornia turned the scale in favor of freedom ; and now 
we have no less than three more free States ready 
for admission into the Union. One of them we have 
seen a party which styles itself Democratic, with a 
northern President at' its head, attempt to smuggle 
into the Union under a slave constitution, concocted 
by corrupt Federal officials and other U'^scrupulous 
ruffians; but every man in the country knows that 
Kansas is practically free, and determined to remain 
so. Sir, nothing caii prevent Kansas from becoming 
a free State of the Union in twelve months or two 
vears, together with Minnesota and Oregon. 

Of the' fifteen slave States, Delaware is one, with 
not more slaves in it than are to be found on some of 
the largest plantations of the South. The people 
are anxiously looking about them for the means of 
removinfj the last vestige of the institution ; and we 
may set^Delaware down as prictically free. Mis- 
souri, too, is one of the fifteen slave States. Her 
slave population is considerable, but her white popu- 
lation is ten times more numerous; her territory is 
as large as Great Britain, and the tide of white im- 
migra'nts now flowing into the State is rapidlv dwarf- 
ing the relative importance of slavery. It is be- 
lieved that its actual strength will for the same reason 
decline, the slaveholders bein j- induced to immigrate 
South with their slaves, by disgust and irritition at 
the marked chinge in publ'c sentiment which has 
n suited from the influx of white population. As an 
index of the rising free sentiment in that State, I 
might point to the presence, in this House, of the 
dis'tinguished Representative from St Louis. He will 
doubtless have sympathizing colleagues in the next 
Congress. 

Maryland is another of the fifteen slave States. It 
is now" in a false position. It has no use for slaves 
in any point of view. It is a commercial and manu- 
facturing, as well as agricultural State. It lies in 
the latitude of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and has 
no more need of negn slaves than those States. Its 
slave population has been declining for fifty years. 
It had more slaves when the first census was taken, 
in 1790, than at the last, in 1S50; and in the mean 
time, its white population has increased several fold. 
It has a city of two hundred and fitty thousand in- 
habitants, which, in fifteen or seventeen years, will 
number half a million. That city, and the whole 
tier of northern counties, are nearly rid of slavery, 
and are becoming averse to the institution. They 
embrace three-fourths of the population of the State, 
nnd are growing every day more and more conscious 



of their strength. It is not to be credited that a 
barbarous and worn-out institution will be permitted 
to fetter the energies of such a population many 
years longer. 

Sir, I have pointed to the fact, that at the time of 
the formation of the constitution, nearly the whole 
of our western Territories, lay contiguous to the 
southern States, while only a portion of one northern 
State was in actual contact with them. I rom north- 
ern Virginia, on the fortieth parallel of l.ititude, down 
to the line of Florida, the South was bounded west- 
wardly by vacant territories stretching to the Pacific 
ocean. The Nor h then literally had no West, ex- 
cept the strip of land between the northern lim- o 
Virginia and Lake Erie. Now, how ch .nged! The 
free States are now in close proximity to nearly every 
foot of valuable territory in the Union ; while the 
South has, in the progress of events, been shut otf 
from it. We h^ve twelve degrees of western front, 
commencing with the southern boundary of Kaiisjis 
and running up to the forty-ninth parnllcl. This in- 
cludes and secures to us beyond contingency, all the 
territory east of the Kocky Mountains, except a strip 
about two hundred miles wide, west of Arkansas, 
which has been dedicated to the Indian tribes. Be- 
yond the Rocky Mountains we have California. Ore- 
gon, and Washington Territories; in a word, the 
whole Pacific coast. Utah and New Mexico are cold, 
mountainous, or desert regions, and hold out no 
strong inducements to emig ants from any quarter; 
but are entirely unsuited for slavery. They are to 
become the great breakwater of the emigrant tide, 
and are destined at no distant day to turn it back 
upon Jlissouri, the Indian Territory, Arkansas, Ken- 
tucky, and, in a word, upon the whole northern tier 
of slave States. The fertile region <if Kansas is said 
by Fremont, Emory, and othtr explorers, to extend 
not more than two hundred and fifty miles beyond 
the Missouri frontier. The emigrant crop of the 
North, and of Kurope, will, in a very few years, occu- 
py this ground, and from that time we may date the 
"friendly invasion" ot the inore northern slave 
States, including Maryland and Virginia. Sir, the 
day of their regeneration is not distant. 

The friends of slaverv talk of opening the Indian 
Territory to the settlement of white men, in order 
to convert it into one or more .slave States, Well, 
let them try it ; we shall be ready for them. The In- 
dian Territory adjoins Kansas on the south, and it 
will be a comparatively easy task to rescue it from 
slavery. Kansas itself was entirely cut off from the 
free States by Missouri ; and its most fertile portions 
were in immediate contact with the most populous 
slaveholdiiig counties of ihat State. The Indian Ter- 
ritory, on the contrary, is bounded as well by the 
free State of Kansas as by the slave State of Arkan- 
sas; and it is a fact, which any one can verify by refer- 
erce to the census, that the northern and western 
portions of the latter, like southwestern Missouri, 
are nearly destitute of slaves. In fact slavery has no 
great hold upon Arkaisas. In the n<irthern half 
of the State, with more than a hundred thousand 
inhabitants, there were in 18'>o less than ten thousand 
slaves. That State is, therefore, more likely to re- 
ceive a fr endly invasion of Free-Soilers from the 
North than to send out a pro-slavery invasion into 
the adjacent Territory. 

The cotton region of Arkansas lies in its southern 
and southeastern portions, and the slave population is 
chiefly confined to these sections. If cotton and sla- 
very will not flourish in the northern and western 
parts of this State, how unlikely that they will suc- 
ceed bettff in the higher and colder regions west of 
it, to which the Indians have been assigned! 

Mr. Chairman, the South owed its rapid develop- 
ment, or I should more properly say, its diflfusion 
and consequent increa'^e in 'ihe number of St.ites, 
in the commencement of our national career, to the 
riiiaous ettects of slavery upon the soil. Slave la- 



r is fitted only for agriculture. Slaves are kept 
ignorance as a nocessary police regulation : and, 
a utcessary consequence, the}' are only qualified 
• the cuai'sest common labor. They will not excel 
even ihe rudest species ot mechanical or nianu- 
iluriug labor ; and are utterly unfitted, by iguo- 
ice, by iho absence of motives of inierest, and by 
,nt (/t integrity of character, for the more iut^e- 
)us operations of art, for trade commerce, and bu- 
less. The cijmmunity, therefore, which holds a 
It, a third, or iwo-thirds of the population in slave- 
can never compete with a Iree community. It is 
if a man shoulil attempt to run a racewiib one of 
i legs splintered, or to wrestle with the right arm 
and. It is lor this reason that we see but a few 
\'ns and villages in the slave ^Itates, compared 
ill wliat we hiid norih (jf Mason and IJixon's line; 
It the cities, except on the iiurihern border, where 
very has nearly disappeared, are few in number, 
i dwarfed m appearance. Even agriculture ilself, 
:auue it is the almost only occupation of society, 
ars a languid and thrililess aspect. 
L'owusand citico are essential lo agricultural pros- 
■ity. They furnish a domestic market for whal- 
'V ihe earth produces; for grain and vegetables, 
beef, mutton, poultry, and eggs, and for a thou- 
id things -which would otherwise be usele.-s. 
very starves out the towns and cities, wears out th^i 
1, aua leaves nothing to improve or recuperate it, 
;ept at a very heavy expense and inconvenience. 
e consequence is, that the slaveholder, alter a 
ien or twenty years, finds it necessary to abandon 
worn-out plantation, and move further, in search 
lew lauds ; and hence it is that slavery has here- 
ire advanced so rapidly. Its weakness and worth- 
iness, as a system of labor, have been the cause 
ts temporary increase of political power in the 
federacy. 

iut, S1I-, the spirit of progress and improvement 
i invaded even the sUve region ; and within fif- 
a years, but more especially within ten years. 
South has greatly improved its conditicm by the 
structiod of railroads, and other facilities of 
iibporiation and travel. The effect has been to 
ng- the farmer ueai er ttie market, to diversify em- 
yiueut, and lo give unwonted aciivity to town 
L country. But the legitimate development of 
Soutti has tended to hinder its expansion. The 
;umented demand for labor in the old States has 
eked eiiiigratiou, and we see Virginia, Maryland, 
I the CaroUnas improving as fast, or nearly as fast, 
he newer States of the t)outhv\est. Texas, which 
an immense fertile territory, wilh five times as 
cti soil adapted to slavery as Virginia, has disap- 
nted the hopes of the South ; and apprehensions 
in to be felt that the western hall of it will be 
iropriated by the Fiee-Soilers. Should tbis take 
ce, it may be attributed as much to the internal 
elopmeni of the old slave States as to the efater- 
56 of the Free-Soilers. 

he most feasible remedy which the South has, 
refore, against the encroaching tide ot white la- 
, is the return to her ancient lethargy and in- 
erence -to the value of internal improvements, 
her abandon her railroads, and ce^se to build 
re, let her burn down her factories and work- 
ps, and lynch or destroy every steam-engme, 
1 she will soon see revived that great element of 
political power, the compulsory dispersion of her 
lulation over the plaius of Texas, and the forma- 
1 of new slaves States. A return to this policy 
Y Secure to her the Indian Territory, if not Kau- 
itself. 

L diti'erent, law has controlled the destiny of north- 
population, ihe free States were originally 
^r. Ihe luiports of the South, as well as the ex- 
ts, prior to the Revolution, were greater than 
se of tne North. The South, then, as now, pro- 
;(id the rich staples of commerce; the North , 



produced nothing which was not grown equally 
cheap in Europe, except, perhaps, lumber and fish, 
whieb were exchangca for such iiritish manufactures 
or colonial products as they could attbrd topurcha.--e. 
The South, it is true, had no couamerce, because 
that was in the hands of the merchants of England. 
English ships brought their cargoes to the very 
doors of the planters, without the intervention of ail 
American iiierchant, in many cases; a fact which 
illustrates the utter absence ot commerce in the 
American colonies. Genertil Wast ington was in the 
habit of thus dealing directly with the Londou im- 
porter. 

The planters had, however, much more to ex- 
change for the luxuries and comiiirts of Europe than 
the poor farmers of the North. Thj South exported 
everything valuable which she produced, and im- 
ported everything which she consumed, except 
necessary food. Nearly everything worn, and every 
article of furniture was imported. Eveu brickjj to 
build houses wore imported from England. 

The friends of slavery are in the habit of pointing 
to the large exports of the South— they can no longer 
point to its large imports— as evidence of the supe- 
rior wealth of that section. They export everything 
valuable which they produce, and impoit, either from 
Europe or from the North, everything except neces- 
saries which they consume; and this, sir, is the 
ground of their boasted wealth, independence, and 
civilization ! I am amazed, sir, that a moment's re- 
flection has not taught them the contrary. Is it not 
clear that a country which produces only the ravv^ 
materials of commerce, which only cultivates the 
ground, is in a condition of colonial dependence? 
touch, sir, is the toudiiion of the South. She pro- 
duces the bulk of our exports, andj'et she has never, 
at an}' period of her history, exported them. Even 
when a majority of the exports was made from south- 
ern ports, the trade was carried on by northern or 
European ships and seamen, liut for some years 
past ihe South has fallen behind the Ivorih in the 
amouut of exports. The imports have always been 
iu northern hands. The JSorih sends its sliipri to 
New Orleans and Charleston, transports their cotton, 
tobacco, sugar, and rice, to Europe, and brings back 
return-cargoes of merchand se to iNew York, Boston, 
and rhiladelphia; and from these points the South 
is supplied with foreign or northern manufactures. 
Sir, the condition of the South is strictly one of colo- 
nial depeudence. She produces the very staples of 
coinmeice; she has tine harbors, fine timber for ship- 
building; iu a word, every, material element of com- 
merce; but they are ot no avail. The ignorance and' 
barbarism of slavery have doomed her to an inferior 
and dependent condition. 

The colonial history of New England and other 
northern States is a history of severe and heroic 
struggles with primeval nature. They had none of 
the advantages which the South enjoyed. They 
produced nothing which was not grown to equal ad- 
vantage in Europe, with the exceptions of lumber 
and fish. The people had little to export, and there- 
fore little to buy with. They were compelled to resort 
to their owti ingenuity tor the supply of their wants ; 
and hence arose those diversihed employments of 
agriculture, commerce, aud the mechanic arts, which 
have coiiferred wealth aud independence upon the 
free Stales. Eveu their superior education and liter- 
ature may be traced to this humble origin — to the 
necessity of ministering to their own wants. The 
wealthy slave proprietors were able to educate their 
sons at Oxford or Cambridge, and therefore neglect- 
ed, iu a great measure, the establishment of schools 
and colleges at home. The northern people, too 
poor to imitate the example of their southern neigh- 
bors, but being imbued with the love of knowledge, 
s,et about building institutions of learning on this 
side of the Atlantic, and the establishment of com- 
mon schools for all classes. The result has been to 



oster a universal love of learnings among the people, 
to found institutions of learning wliich command the 
respect of the civilized world, and a literature which, 
in litile more than two centuries from the date of 
the first settlement at Plymouth Rock, begins to take 
i-ank by the side of that of the mother countrj. 

Hir, "this diversity of employment, which is an es- 
sential element of civilization and progress, had its 
germ in the poverty of the northern colonies, and it is 
now the glorv and streni^th ot the empire. It has kept 
j)opulation more at home, and caused the accumula- 
tion of large masses in cities and towns. ISince the 
Revolution, the incidental, and sometimes direct, 
protection, exi ended by the Federal Government to 
manufactures, has tended to promote this diversity 
of employment and concentration of population. The 
propagandists of slavery should, above all other peo- 
ple, auvocate the protective policy ; since its effect 
is to prevent the emigrating tendency of northern 
populat on, which has thwarted their efforts to carry 
slavery into Kansas. 

But it is a singular fact that the policy of the 
iSouth hiis tended more to the spread of free institu- 
tions than oui- own northern policy has done. Sir, 
what has that southern policy boen . . ., has been 
to break down, or keep down, our mmulacturiug 
system, by withholding the protection which is es- 
sential to its existence. Free-trade has never been 
literally adopted in this country ; and we have there- 
fore to conjecture its fulUfi'ects upon our mechanieal 
and manufacturing interests. But I think the free- 
trade theorists will agree with me that it would j)ro- 
duce a general dispersion of the noriheru town popu- 
lation. It would augment the tide of western and 
southern emigration, and till up the Territories with 
its free white laborers. The present revenue tariff' 
has been in operaiion a dozen years. ^V'e have seen 
its effects. They have b;en only less potent than free- 
trade. It has cripp'ed our manufactures, jrevented 
the erowth of manufacturing towns in the old States, 
and sent our people out in search of new homes in 
the Far West. California, in the latitude of V,rgiuia 
and the Carolinas, has been njade a free State. Kan- 
sas, m the same latitude, has been rescued from the 
jaws of slavery. We have at the same time f mud a 
surplus for the peopling of J\linnesota, Oregon, 



Washington, and Nebraska, and are now proposing 
to oust slavery from Missouri. 

But, sir, another southern measure has removed 
an obstacle to the ascendency of free laboi- and free 
institutions in this Republic. I allude to the repeal 
of the Missouri compromise. While that compromise 
existed, there was a tacit understanding that ihe line 
of thiriy-six degrees thirty nnnutes was to be the 
boundary line between slavery and freedom. But, 
sir, the line has been effaced ; and the friends of 
freedom, after an arduous struggle, have succeeded 
in placing their right to all territory north of that 
line on a foundation more enduring tuan the isother- 
mal theories of Governor Walker, or the plighted 
faith of the slave power. By its free-trade pulley, 
the South has imposed upon the North the ntcessity 
of emigration, and, by the repeal of the Missouri 
compromise line, they invite us into their territorial 
heritage. We have lost nothing by your bad faith; 
and, in the name of the free people of the countr)', 
of all parties and sectioos, I ihaiik you for the act, 
though not iwr the motive which prompted it. We 
will take you at your word. We will go into your 
goodly land and possess it ; once yours by compro- 
mise, but now as much ours as yours by your bad 
faith. 

I am the advocate of a protective tariff", and I 
think the present tariff ruinoMsly low; but if you 
think it too high, reduce it, and estHblisii free-trade. 
The effect will he to injure us of the older States, 
of Pennsylvania, of Mew England, New York, New 
Jersey, and Ohio ; but what we lose in wealth and 
prosperity the North will gain in political power. 
Break up our factories ani workshops, and our popu- 
lation will emigrate to the western Territories, 
crowd out si very, and make free Siates of thtm. 
Our population will invade Delaware, Maryland, 
Kentucky, Missouri, and Virginia, and transform 
them into free States. 

Commerce, too, will be unduly stimulated, thus 
afl'iirding additional facilities to European emigrati( n 
to this country ; and we ma}'' expect to see an influx 
of hveorsix hundred thousand per annum, who will 
be joined to the army of northern invaders of your 
soil. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 
BIJELL & BLANCHARD, PRINTERS. 

1858. 



HBRARY OF CONGRESS 



016 085 202 1 



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